Asiatic Lion - Data, Pictures & Videos

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Semen and blood samples collected from 28 wild-caught and captive-bred lions from the Gir forest showed a high incidence (79%) of morphologically abnormal spermatozoa compared to free-ranging African lions, which is nearly always associated with infertility. The Gir lion population may have suffered a drastic population bottleneck or series of bottlenecks followed by inbreeding in their recent history.[8]



In the course of a later study, semen and blood samples were collected from seven lions in three Indian zoos. These samples showed high percentage of motile spermatozoa and low incidence of abnormal spermatozoa, thus implying that inbreeding depression had not affected these animals. The low genetic variability may be a feature of the species and not a result of inbreeding in recent times.[24] The RAPD techniques used in this population genetics research have been criticized as being imprecise and having major technical and analytical drawbacks.[25]

28 different Wild Caught and captive bred where used for the first study compared to just 7 lions all captive for the 2nd study you are using.

"The RAPD techniques used in this population genetics research have been criticized as being imprecise and having major technical and analytical drawbacks.[25]"This was also written about the 2nd study
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